China launches first India-dedicated investment fund

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), a top state-run Chinese bank has launched China’s first India-dedicated publicly offered investment fund. The fund has been named as Industrial and Commercial Bank Credit Suisse India Market Fund. ICBC is the largest in the world with over $3.6 trillion in assets.

Key Facts

The ICBC Credit Suisse Indian Market Fund (LOF) will invest in exchange-traded funds listed on more than 20 exchanges in Europe and US that are based on the Indian market. It will invest in future of Indian economy and track distribution of industrial structure across Indian market. For this, ICBC has listed sectors for investments specifically, in terms of the major industries weighted distribution of the index. The financial industry accounts for highest proportion, followed by information technology, alternative consumption, energy, essential consumption, raw materials, medicine, healthcare and other industries.

Signifiance

The fund opens way for Chinese investors and provided good tool for low-threshold investment in India. It is also regarded as significant by observers to boost investments in India and comes after first ever informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, where two leaders sought to give a new direction to bilateral ties to tap their economic potential.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2018